Distorted Reflection
by The Owl Mage
Summary: Many said of everyone, Arthur was most like his father, but Uther disagreed. There was one other who resembled him a bit more


_A/n: What do you get when you cross a very slow shift, with re-watching the early series of Merlin. Random thoughts and theories about the show._

 _Before you go onto this fic, please know that I do actually like Morgana's character, both pre and post her transformation into a stereotypical bad guy._

 _So enjoy this quickly wrote, small fic based on a series i don't own_

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 _ **Distorted Reflection.**_

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She was like a fogged-up mirror, reflecting a distorted image of another.

Most knew Morgana as the beloved ward of the king, seeing no more than the image of kindness and valour she wore as easily as one of her gowns. Others, those closest to the Lady, knew of her quick wit and cleaver tongue, easily able to keep up with even with Geoffroy of mammoth during one of his rants.

Gwen was privy to slightly more to the image her mistress portrayed. She bore witness to the frightened girl, one haunted by odd dreams and abilities yet unknown to her their host.

But of all these people, only one saw under the Veil of Morgana, one currently who knew the true nature of her, the nature that she refused to acknowledge, the nature that she shared with him.

Uther Pendragon was amazed at how much the girl was like her true father. He had little to do with her formative years, yet his unacknowledged daughter shared many personality traits with him. Oh, he knew that Gorlois, the one everyone beloved sired Morgana also had some of these qualities, but that only made them all too easy to see to the old king.

The first was her lust for violence and anger. Many times, he saw her reach for a knife or weapon, ready to fight quicker than most of his knights. Recently, during the treaty banquet, when his son's manservant interrupted and drank the poison for his prince, Uther still noticed his daughter's hand brandish a knife, as his son ran to the aid of the lad. And later, he overheard her complaints to her maid that the visiting monarch's knights were subdued to quickly and that it was a shame he didn't get to fight.

Uther could also see how manipulative she was. The king's ward used her cleaver tongue and quick wits to spin honeyed words, making others, especially her brother dance to her tune. And whilst for a noble lady, this trait is essential to survive court, there was always the worry that she would use her skills against Camelot and her King. (Uther knew he shouldn't give in as easily as he did, that already she was using her skills against him, allying with those who wished to kill him. But his guilt over her existence and the betrayal of his friend that he held his tongue)

Her pride was also something she shared with her sire. To her, being right was more important than anything else. She would punish those not even involved in the issue, just to cause a point, be it forcing her maid to go against protocol with her or showing disrespect by not greeting a guest coming to the kingdom. Deep down, Uther knew that this was a trait she got from him, but ironically, he was to prideful to admit it.

Maybe, if Uther where to guide her and helped her work on tempering these, then many of the deaths that came when destiny caught up with her would have been of been prevented. But also, Uther's pride prevented him admitting to his sins and acknowledging his flaws. So only subconsciously did he acknowledge that it was not his son, who was more like his mother than anyone knew, who was like his father. Instead it was his daughter who was his distorted reflection.

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 _A/N:This came from a mixture of the re-watches and a trend i noticed that a lot of fics i have read don't actually acknowledge that Morgana was actually a bit like her later series self in the first series, and it wasn't all Merlin's fault._

 _And as it won't be one of my Merlin fics without a fact or joke, here you go_

 _The clown with a split personality is a bit of a juggles and hyde charater._

 _Thank you for reading_


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